(The following is written by a reader of Exposing the ELCA)Here's an interesting tidbit, straight from the ELCA Town Hall meeting September 19:

"As a Christian, I want to hear a Muslim speak of their faith, how the Qur’an shapes their faith, how they live their faith in daily life, what it’s like to worship together. And I want to share that story as a Christian. And in that exchange, we might grow to appreciate the faith of the other. Sometimes in that conversation, one may even be opened to being converted to the faith of the other. But if that doesn’t happen, we will at least begin to say: We have a common commitment to the one world in which God has placed us, to work together for justice and peace."

For the full transcript, you can visit this page.But it's obvious that quote wasn't taken out of context, and it's only on page 2 and 3. Martin Luther transcribed the Quran into German because he felt that the learned Christian ought to know it so that through knowing it, he or she "might be able to heal some." But now, we have become so afraid of embracing the Word that the best the ELCA can do is say that though interfaith dialogue, a Christian or Muslim might or might not be inclined to convert to the faith of another.

I think that we have to live with our neighbors of other faiths on three levels: civic, just, and evangelical. Civic in the sense that we have to figure out how to get along with neighbors, friends, family members, and coworkers who are of radically different faiths. Just in the sense that most of us can agree that things like bullying, racial slurs, world hunger, poverty, etc., ought not to be no matter what your religious/racial/sexual/national affiliation may be. And evangelical because we may be called to invite people into the Christian faith and we need to know how to do that. The ELCA has substituted evangelism with justice and called it good.